Sister Act
Short description
Sister Act centres on Deloris Van Cartier, a singer performing in a Reno casino who is involved with Vince LaRocca, a man she does not realise is a mob boss. After she witnesses him kill someone, she goes to the police and is placed in a witness protection programme. Because Vince will be looking for her, the authorities hide her somewhere nobody would think to search: a convent, where she must live as a nun under a new name and answer to a strict Mother Superior. Deloris struggles with the rules and the quiet routine, but she eventually takes charge of the choir and changes the life of the community, which in turn draws attention she would rather avoid.
The film was directed by Emile Ardolino, his fourth feature after Dirty Dancing, Chances Are and 3 Men and a Little Lady, from a screenplay by Paul Rudnick, with Teri Schwartz producing. Whoopi Goldberg plays Deloris, and Maggie Smith plays the Mother Superior, with Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes and Harvey Keitel among the cast. Made for 31 million dollars, it returned 232 million worldwide, a strong result for a comedy of its scale. On IMDb it holds 6.6 from 118,000 votes and on TMDB 6.8 from 3,538 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 5.7 from 30 reviews, so audiences have rated it a little more warmly than critics did.
What's left behind the scenes
- During the end credits, the cover of one of the actual issues of The Rolling Stone magazine is shown.
- The main city post office was used as the police station in the city of Reno, and several police cars were placed nearby for realism. These were manned by police officers hired to guard the set. Director Emile Ardolino decided that the actual police station in Reno looked unconvincing.
- A theatrical musical was made based on the film. In 2010, Whoopi Goldberg played the role of the Mother Superior in some London productions.
- When Paul Rudnik was writing the screenplay, Bette Midler (who was considered for the lead role at the time) advised him to visit a real monastery during the process. He did so and visited a monastery in Connecticut. The mother superior there was Mother Dolores Hart, who had once (in the late 1950s) been an actress, singer, and dancer. She remains the only nun – a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and she and the other nuns watch the Academy Awards ceremony every year.
- Many scenes were filmed in Reno, Nevada, and the actresses often remained in their habits after filming, causing mischief in casinos, bars, and strip clubs. Once, Kathy Najimy and Wendy McKenna ordered wine and french fries to their room, and when it arrived and someone knocked on the door, the actresses opened it in their monastic habits while a pornographic film was playing on the television.
- Whoopi Goldberg asked Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) to rewrite her lines, which caused numerous disputes with Disney studio management.
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